Instead, the latest drama in Washington is because Trump wants money for a border wall, which is an issue that doesn’t motivate me (though I keep asking my GOP friends why they don’t propose to finance the wall by cutting back on wasteful domestic programs).

Amen. As Jay Leno joked back in 2013, the real problem is that politicians eventually figure out how to get the government going again.

Sticking with that theme, let’s enjoy excerpts from some satire by Babylon Bee earlier this year.

As the federal government faces a shutdown…, millions of Americans reported…a sense of relief washing over them like a wave of peace and serenity at the possibility of a powering-down of our volatile governing bodies. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the federal government would just close up shop and go away for a little while,” one smiling man told reporters. “They’re such a source of strife and frustration in our daily lives—we need a little peace of mind. I really hope they’ll go ahead and take a little break.” “Don’t worry about us, politicians—we’ll be fine. Just go ahead, shut her down and take as much time as you need,” he added.

So even if it’s only a partial shutdown, and even though it’s not for the reasons I would prefer, I still share the sentiment in the Babylon Bee article.

The seal in the above image should thank Hank Stanson, at least according to another article from Babylon Bee.

…local libertarian man Hank Stanson reportedly wrote a letter to Santa asking for the entire government to cease operations forever for Christmas this year. “Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for you to shut down the federal government permanently,” his modest request read. “All non-essential services should be shut down immediately.” …”I’ve been a very good boy this year,” he wrote, arguing his case. “I haven’t smoked any marijuana, and I haven’t shouted at any police officers that taxation is theft yet. When a prominent politician died earlier this year, I even waited a full day before blasting him on my Facebook page. So please, Santa Claus, please make this staunch liberty lover a very happy man this year.”

I’ve also been a good boy. I waited a full week after George H.W. Bush died before pointing out that he was not a good president.

The caravan of Central American migrants heading to the U.S. is going to cross paths with a southbound caravan.

A migrant caravan full of leftists desiring to enter the socialist paradise of Venezuela departed the United States Thursday and began marching toward through Mexico, stating they will demand asylum so they might experience the far better life that socialism offers. …”Everyone there has the same quantity of possessions and food,” said one marcher. “Everyone makes millions of dollars, and very few people work. It’s a real paradise.” The refugees have complex motivations, but the vast majority simply want to see everything socialism has to offer after suffering the amazing benefits of capitalism for too long. …At its current pace, the caravan is expected to arrive just in time for Venezuela to run out of food entirely.

That sounds like a good trade to me.

Venezuela gets a bunch of crazies who will revel in equal levels of poverty (with the exception of the ruling elite, of course), and America will get a bunch of folks who want to work hard for a better life (an outcome that will be more likely since there will be fewer statists offering them welfare and telling them not to assimilate.

Speaking of assimilation, I suspect the leftists will have a very hard time adjusting to life under socialism.

But some topics are so grim that’s it’s not easy to laugh about them. There’s nothing funny about the horror of Venezuela, for instance, though there are examples of dark humor from that unfortunate nation.

Nearly 400 people in Wayne County who were never charged with a crime still lost property to law enforcement agencies last year through a legal procedure called civil asset forfeiture… Altogether, there were 736 asset forfeiture proceedings in Michigan in 2017 during which someone lost property to the government despite never being charged with any crime; this happened 380 times in Wayne County. …Jarrett Skorup of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who co-authored a recent report on civil forfeiture, said…it’s likely that these forfeitures disproportionately affected low-income individuals, who are less able to afford an attorney or navigate the legal system to reclaim their property. Revenue obtained from forfeited property typically goes to the agency that seized the property.

Yes, you read correctly. The agency that steals the property gets to keep the money, which is why the disgusting practice of civil asset forfeiture is sometimes known as “policing for profit.”